The Glimmer Chronicles
by Tando
Summary: Emma recieves a full scholarship to The Glimmerstorm Camp for the Dramatically Different. Only when she arrives she finds out that it has a much different idea of what "Dramatically Different" people are.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I'd like to thank the members of SFartsED Broadway Bound Summer Camp for being my inspirations of the characters.

The Glimmer Chronicles

Chapter 1: Welcome to Glimmer Camp

Four pairs of feet can be heard walking down a cobblestone pathway, three boys and one girl. They're all talking amongst each other as they stroll along. They walk along a path surrounded by woodland area, the sun still fairly low in the sky. The neat cobblestone path seems almost out of place in the otherwise untouched landscape, which makes sense, since it isn't even visible to most people.

"I remember the path being a lot longer the first time, we're almost there already." one of the boys comments, pressing his hand against his light blond hair.

The girl nods and smiles, "I can't wait to see who's going to be at camp this year. Maybe we'll see some of the first years from school there as well."

Another boy, this one with a frail build and light curly brown hair shrugs, "I don't think many of the other kids know about Glimmer Camp. It's in America after all."

"Good point. The only reason I know about it is because you yanks told me about it." the girl points out. "Speaking of America, why couldn't you yanks just attend an American school?"

"We're Americans, not "yanks"." spit's the third boy impatiently.

The frail boy rolls his large, childlike eyes, "Stop acting like "yanks" is the equivalent of the N word. It's not a big deal."

The third boy scoffs, "Yeah, well it's not like we call you a Brit. You call us yanks like we're your pets."

"You're mental Davey, you know that?"

Davey, the third boy, forms a cocky smile, "Oh look at me! Om Mattie! Om British an I drink tea with the Queen!" he mocks playfully, waving his hands and looking at her sarcastically.

Mattie, now annoyed by Davey's childish taunts, reaches for her robe pocket, and pulls out her wand,

"_Stupefy_!"

A beam of red light shoots from her wand and surges toward Davey. Davey barely has enough time to clumsily yank out his own wand,

"_Confringo_!"

The red light bursts into flames right in front of him. Mattie fires several more red blasts as Davey narrowly deflects them. The other two boys look at each other with worried glances as bright red, neon green, and teal lights flash by them. The blond boy watching the duel is hit by a blast of violet light, which courses through him as he falls to the ground like a rag doll,

"Michael!" the small boy yelps.

Michael, the blond boy, pushes himself up slowly, "I'm fine, I'm fine."

The small boy turns to the duel, and runs right into the crossfire,

"_Protego_!"

A filmy blue dome encompasses the frail boy, cancelling whatever jinxes or spells would have hit him.

"Bay, what are you doing?!" Davey shouts.

Bay, the short, frail boy, let his shield down,

"Well, you two were fighting, and, and, that's very nice…" Bay states, twiddling his thumbs and looking down at them.

Davey immediately points to Mattie, "She started it. She's always got something against me."

"You two are like an old married couple." Michael laughs.

Mattie and Davey turn sternly to Michael, "SHUT UP MICHAEL!"

"Ok, ok…"

"C'mon, we're going to be late for the first day of camp." Bay ushers the group.

The four continue on the cobblestone trail, and they begin to see a structure peaking out of the dense woods.

"Hey, do you think there might have been a chance that a Muggle saw your duel?" Michael asks.

Mattie shakes her head no, "We passed the anti-Muggle barrier a long time ago. Trust me, there's no way a Muggle could get past that thing."

Emma zips her suitcase. She's decorated her pristine white suitcase with stickers and glue-on gemstones. Looking at it now, she feels like it might come off as too girly or cutesy, but it's better than the boring, blank look of an empty, blank white suitcase. And besides, if she's going to be looking at it for two months straight, it might as well be pretty.

Her train of thought is derailed when she hears the honking of a horn. It must be the bus! She grabs her suitcase and rushes out of her room,

"Bye!" she calls to her older brother, who gives a non-descript wave in response.

Just before she exit's the house through their white painted front door that coincidently matches her suitcase, she grabs the summer camp's brochure and map.

The wheels on the suitcase roll across the gravel pavement as she crosses what feels like a threshold, an escape. In other words, she couldn't wait to get out of that house.

She steps onto the bus' chipped black steps when she comes eye to eye with a pair of sparkling blue eyes.

"You're…Emma?" the teenager guesses, arching an eyebrow.

"Hi, is this for the summer camp?" she asks tentatively, gripping the end of her suitcase.

Blue eyes pulls down the end of his black cap, with the word "hi" written on it in white colored cursive. He's sitting in the driver's seat, with one hand on the steering wheel, "Yep, that's right."

She smiles, "Cool."

She then sees that the bus has only one other passenger other the driver, a mopey looking boy about her age dressed in a baggy t-shirt and blue jeans with shaggy black hair sitting at the very back of the bus. She takes a seat towards the front, staring intently at the teenage bus driver. Speaking of teenager, he looks kind of young, not too much older than herself. Is he even old enough to be authorized to drive this bus? Should she ask to see his driver's license? No, she tells herself, this is just nervousness getting the best of you.

She takes her time to look around at the bus in an attempt to calm herself down. The bus is old, and grimy. The seats are worn out and ripped in many places, there's grim and chewed gum all over the walls, floor, and ceiling of the once yellow, now dark banana bruise brown colored interior of the bus. Yep, standard school bus.

The bus begins to roll slowly along the uneven concrete road, and the sound of small pebbles rolling under the bus' tires could be heard in the background. Emma takes a final glance at her home as the rows of identical houses crept pass her vision. If it weren't for the golden numbers on each door, she would never be able to tell which house is hers.

"Ian, can we go at full speed now?" the boy at the back asks rather impatiently.

Ian, the bus driver, shakes his head no,

"We still have one more passenger to pick up. You know the rules Dylan."

The boy in the back, Dylan, folds his arms disappointedly, before glancing over at Emma,

"Hey, is this your first time at Glimmer Camp?" he asks, pushing himself to the edge of his seat.

She nods, and pulls out the brochure she had grabbed back at her house,

"I've never heard of it before, but they sent me a letter offering me a full scholarship out of no where. Sure this isn't just a ploy to kidnap children?"

Ian and Dylan laugh, and Dylan replies smoothly,

"No, and hey, I'm on scholarship too."

The bus stops at another house with a pristine white door, green lawn, and perfectly aligned concrete path.

"I hate these identical houses. It's the same thing over and over again. That's boring." Dylan comments. He slides down in his seat until his head is on the leather bottom.

Emma furrows her eyebrow, "Wait, where're you from Dylan?"

"New York."

This only makes Emma more confused, "Wait, then why are you riding on this bus?"

Dylan shrugs, "Budget cuts."

"There are other buses transporting other campers. This is just one of many." Ian explains.

Emma leans back in her chair, puzzled. He sat on this bus and rode it across the country? Or maybe he took a plane and this bus ride is just an extended part of the trip? That would be a reasonable explanation. But, why come here all the way from New York? Surely there's an equivalent that's closer to home. Also, it's a bit strange that he claims to be from New York, but talks like a southern Californian teenager. Maybe they're just pulling my leg, she realizes.

The bus doors open and a dirty pair of Converse steps onto the bus. Following the grimy shoes is a girl Emma's age dressed completely in black, black long sleeve shirt and black pants. All she needs is the depressing heavy makeup and she'd be one of those stereotypical goth girls. But in contrast to her clothes, her smile is big and bright.

"Kim, welcome back." Ian acknowledges the girl.

"Good to see you again Ian." she responds in an unexpectedly chipper voice.

Kim bypasses Emma completely and walks over to Dylan, "Hey, Dylan!"

Dylan gives a wide toothless grin and waves. All of his facial features appear to stretch out when he smiles. She flops down on the seat next to him. Ian smiles at them and closes the bus door shut,

"Alright, everyone's here. Time to get going!" Ian announces before gripping both hands onto the steering wheel.

Emma watches as the scenery outside of her window shifts dramatically. The identical houses begin to blur until they become nothing but a mix of their own white doors, green lawns, and red roofs. Emma could tell that the bus' moving forward, but it feels like the bus isn't moving at all. She clutches to the leather of her seat, since there aren't any seatbelts attached to the seats,

"This is seriously trippy. What the heck is going on?"

"Don't freak out, everything's fine." Ian assures her with a smile of confidence.

Emma, becoming somewhat queasy from looking at the sickeningly fast changing colors surrounding the bus. She bends at the waist to look at the floor instead, breathing heavily. What kind of a bus is this, she asks herself. This definitely wasn't mentioned in the brochure.

Speaking of the brochure, she pulls it out to distract herself. The front shows a picture of the campus, which looks like a regular school was dropped into the middle of a forest and someone poured colorful paints all over it. The campus itself is built into a mountainside and is surrounded by dense woods.

She still couldn't wrap her head around the wacky bus. Is this an optical illusion? Has she been drugged? Is this all a dream and she's still asleep at home, and her brother is about to knock on the pastel pink door of her room to wake her up and tell her that the bus is here to pick her up for summer camp. Whatever it is, the other campers seem to be fine with it. Is this normal to have the equivalent of an acid trip on your first bus ride to summer camp? She's been to other sleep away camps before and the bus ride has never been this…trippy. Maybe the bus has mold or disease-riddled rodents in it and she's having a bad reaction to it. Maybe she should tell someone, but, she'd really rather not. After all, this has to be a one time thing, the rest of the camp won't be this weird.

The camp's official name is The Glimmerstorm Camp for the Dramatically Different, although it seems like those other kids, Dylan and Kim call it Glimmer Camp for short. From the sound of the name, and the sparkly font used, the camp appears to have been named by fairies, actual faeries but the idea of a homosexual naming their drama camp that seems completely possible as well. Not that literal fairies exist, it just seems like that kind of name.

It's also a strange name for a drama camp. The "Dramatically Different" part makes sense, but Glimmerstorm? Was is named for something or someone?

Emma flips into the brochure to actually read the thing. So this is what I'm resorting to, she thinks to herself. Reading a summer camp brochure to avoid conversation. She quickly remembers that reading in a moving vehicle makes her just as queasy as looking at the weird colors flashing outside the bus windows.

"Hey, we're here."

Dylan's tapping her shoulder with a repeated poking gesture. She sits up straight and looks around. Good, she thinks to herself, the outside world isn't spinning anymore. Outside the bus is now surrounded by lush emerald green woods and mountains disturbed only by a cobblestone road. The scenery is breathtaking, like a place where you'd want to go camping or hiking. While it's obvious that they're in the canyon of the mountain, they're high enough to be one a slope with a stream running below.

Emma pauses, realizing that they had just been in her hometown minutes ago, and now they're in a mountainous region. Are they still even in the same state? While she's never traveled into mountainous terrain, common sense dictates that it would take quite a while to drive up a mountain. Maybe the trippy bus ride was the side effect of drugs given to them to make the ride appear shorter, it is an art camp after all. Maybe that's why the other kids treated the bus ride as nothing unusual, because they're addicted to drugs and this is nothing new to them. She looks to Dylan and Kim, who're walking over to the camp, they don't show the usual signs of drug users, not that she's ever actually ever met any drug users before.

The bus is facing the campus entrance, a gap between two separate buildings that form with two other buildings further back to create the complete campus. The gap stretches out into a large quad with basketball court-like markings without the basketball hoops as the centerpiece. There're various kids wandering around the quad, all approximately Emma's age.

Emma grabs her suitcase and heads out. The minute she steps out of the bus, she's hit by the smell of pine, fresh air, and dew on new grass. She rolls her suitcase along, and notices that neither Dylan or Kim is carrying anything on their person. Maybe they're stuff is already here, or maybe they're rich and their stuff is being dropped off by a butler. Dylan pulls out a small, strange gold cardboard box shaped like a church. He reaches into it and pulls out a jelly bean and smells it before popping it into his mouth. Odd habit. He then offers one to Kim and she accepts it gingerly,

"Want one Emma?" he offers, holding out the box.

She picks one at random, "Thanks."

The minute she pops the candy into her mouth, she is flooded with the taste of…baked beans. It doesn't make sense, jelly beans are suppose to be sweet, unless they're those buttered popcorn ones. And it doesn't even feel like she's eating a jelly bean, it actually feels like she's eating baked beans,

"What flavor did you get?" he asks.

Emma's not quite sure how to respond to that, "Umm, I don't know really…"

Dylan arches his eyebrow in confusion, "Really? You're suppose to just, know. That's how they're suppose to work."

Since when could you taste the difference between the lemonade and pink lemonade flavors? Maybe I just got a dud, Emma concludes.

Ian walks over to her, his hands buried in the pockets of his blue denim skinny jeans,

"Girl's dorms are in that building. Left side." he tells her, pointing to the building further back.

"Great…thanks." she says quietly.

She follows Kim and Dylan to the building that houses the dorms through the quad. As they walk through the quad, Emma notices that while some of the campers are wearing casual clothes like her loose white tank top and black leggings with matching flats, some of the campers are wearing rather formal clothes. On top of that, they're all matching. White button downs with ties, unusually long, nearly ankle length old-fashioned black thin sweatshirts with no drawstrings or hoods, dress pants for guys, skirts for girls. The only differentiation there is, is the different colored ties and emblems on the strange sweatshirts. It makes Emma begin to feel like she's at a prestigious private school,

"Who're all the kids in the uniforms?"

"They're from Hogwarts. It's a school in England or something like that." Dylan replies.

"Scotland." Kim corrects him.

Emma nods, "Where do you guys go to school?"

Dylan is the first to respond to this, "Currently, I attend the International Academy for Elementalists, or IAE."

Emma didn't know how to respond to this. Surely he's joking, she thinks,

"Yeah, and I go to the School of Magicians." she jokes back.

Dylan jumps, "You go to Mage? I went there for a while. I don't remember seeing you there though."

Now she starts to feel uncomfortable, why is he still putting on that charade?

"Hey, it's Dylan, and Kim!" a young boy calls out.

She sees that four campers wearing the Hogwarts uniform are approaching them. They all have different colored ties and emblems. The young boy has a red-gold tie and emblem, another boy this one Emma's age, with blond hair and blue eyes is yellowish, the other boy with unusually pale skin and lean arms is green-silver, and the girl of the group with short dark red hair is bluish.

The boy with the green-silver tie is the first to approach them and instantaneously pulls both Dylan and Kim into a hug, his bony arms unable to completely encompass the both of them.

"Davey, good to see ya man!" Dylan greets him through his tight bear hug.

Kim wiggles her way out of his grasp and sighs, "Davey, you know I hate hugs."

Davey gives her a look of playful disbelief through his smile.

"I always thought a hug was kinda out of character for a Slytherin." the boy with the yellowish tie comments.

Davey's smile instantly turns into a scowl, "Shut up, Michael."

Michael sighs and scoots to the back of the group.

"Is this your first time?" the girl asks Emma.

Emma nods, "Nice to meet, all of you."

Michael pops out excitedly from the back, "It's another girl!"

The group turns around collectively to Michael with annoyed expressions.

"Never mind Michael, he's a bit odd. I'm Mattie by the way, and this is Bay." the girl introduces herself, and gestures to the small boy with the red tie.

"How old are you?" Emma asks Bay inquisitively.

"I'm thirteen, going into my third year at Hogwarts, or eighth grade."

He's the same age as herself, she realizes. Maybe he's just a late bloomer.

"So, how'd you guys meet?" Mattie asks.

"She was on the same bus as us." Dylan explains.

She nods, "Where do you go to school?"

Dylan replies for her, "She goes to Mage."

Emma actually attends Amelia Earhart Middle School, not some wacky school for Magicians.

"Oh that's cool. What kind of Magician are you? I'm not that well versed in the American magic system." she asks.

First of all, Emma doesn't have a clue what kinds of "Magicians" there are, is there even a substantial difference between the different types? Dylan mentioned that he goes to an Elementalist school. Maybe that's one of the types, but what about the Hogwarts kids? Are they Magicians as well, or something completely different? It seems like anything is possible now.

And if they're Magicians, maybe that explains everything, magic. She's never truly believed in magic since she was a little girl, but she's always known how cool it would be to have superpowers or magical abilities. But, this is a drama camp, what would kids with magic powers be doing at a magic camp? Is this how celebrities become famous, through sorcery? They do look like the stereotypical white kids you find attending most drama camps, except for Kim, who appears to be either Asian or Pacific Islander.

As the group walks leisurely to the dorm, Emma pulls out her brochure and flips it open, what is this camp? It's obvious that this isn't a drama camp, not once has anyone here brought up a drama-related subject. In the introductory paragraph, the brochure reads:

"_Have your child their full potential as a magical being at the Glimmerstorm Camp for the Dramatically Different! Seven weeks of spellcasting, potions, and flying lessons from certified professors who specialize in their chosen field. Transportation and dormitories will be provided, as well as regular meals and a designated area for laundry. The campus, recently modernized and made accessible to all Demigods, spans several miles and is surrounded by lush woodland area. The campus itself includes male and female dormitories, classrooms, potion laboratories, and a complete Quidditch field where Flying lessons and regular Quidditch games will take place. The classrooms, potion laboratories, and the professors are fully equipped to give your child the leg up in their academia and ensure that they'll be ahead of their peers come school time."_

Emma can't believe her eyes, this is all actually real. Magic is real. This is so cool! But what about her? Doesn't that make her a magical being as well? She's never felt different from her peers, pretty average in fact. But maybe this is what makes her stand out from the rest. She has magical powers!

"Excuse me, young lady?"

Emma pulls herself from her though process and pulls herself back into the here and now. The group is now in the entrance to the building that houses the dormitories. Guarding the entrance is a tall, slim woman with defined cheekbones and neck length red hair. She's leaning on a wooden podium that matches the wooden interior of the dormitories.

"Yes?" Emma replies, still giddy from her discovery.

"I need your name in order to assign your dorm."

Emma gives the woman her full name.

"Ah, yes. I have you down as a Magician. You're dorm number is 218, girls dorms are to the right. Mattie will be your roommate. Unpack, and head down to the mess hall for lunch and orientation."

The woman hands her a gold key with the room number on it,

"Thanks Professor Erin. Hey, we're roommates."

Mattie gestures to the right staircase and Emma and Kim follow. The boys head off towards the left staircase. They reach their rooms and Kim splits off to her own room.

Each room consists of two beds and a window dividing them. Mattie chooses the left bed, while Emma throws her suitcase onto the right,

"Oh, you don't use a storage charm?" Mattie asks her.

This must be one of the magical objects that magical beings use, Emma realizes,

"Naw, my parents are non-magical…folk, and, and they aren't really into all of this…magical stuff." Emma stutters, hoping she'll buy it.

Mattie nods, "Yeah, my Muggle relatives aren't too into it either, not that many of them even know."

Emma silently lets out a sigh of relief. She uses a peculiar term, Muggle. It must refer to non-magical people. Mattie pulls a phone charm and a stick. She places the charm on her bed and taps the stick on the charm. The charm is momentarily covered in a bright light and before Emma could blink twice, the small charm has now transformed into a full size suitcase, even larger than Emma's. Emma jumps back, astounded. She then speaks, hoping to mask her surprise.

"So you're a Magician too?"

Mattie jumps up from her unpacking, visibly upset, "You obviously don't know anything about European Wizarding Society."

So, she's a Wizard, or Witch technically, and not a Magician, well…

"Is there a difference between a Wizard and a Magician?"

Mattie furrows her brow in thought,

"Well, we're the same species, but we're taught a different kind of magic. For example, you Magicians have two categories that you're all organized into at an early age, Elementalists and Necromancers. We don't have that. I mean, at Hogwarts we have something else called Houses, but that's more about personality than magical ability…oh, even for me it's very confusing."

Emma sat down on her bed, trying to soak up all the information she'd just been given. So the guys in the uniforms are Wizards and Witches, that must mean that I'm a Magician, Emma concludes. But Magicians have two sub-categories, Elementalists and Necromancers. What is she? It wouldn't make sense for her to be a Necromancer, so it would make sense that she'd be an Elementalist. Yeah, and then she could prove that she's a magical being and go to a school like Hogwarts. But there're still so many questions, and Emma's determined to have them answered.

"Hey, aren't you going to head over for lunch?" Mattie asks.

Lunch. She hadn't realized how hungry she actually is until Mattie mentions lunch. What do magical beings eat? That jelly bean that Dylan gave her must have been made using magic, because she's fairly certain that there's no such thing as a baked bean flavored jelly bean.

They leave the dorms and head to the mess hall, a smaller building somewhat separate from the other three main buildings. The mess hall itself looks just like a regular school cafeteria, with cheap rectangular wooden benches, a hot and cold lunch line, and vending machines. But in a magical world, what would vending machines carry?

"Hot or cold food huh? I wish this place was more like Hogwarts in respect to food distribution. The food would just all be there in front of you." Mattie comments.

Emma and Mattie decide on the cold food line, on account of hot food being inappropriate for summer weather. In the cold food line, Emma's disappointed to find that all of the food is relatively normal. At least the mess hall isn't just like a cafeteria in the sense that the food actually looks good and doesn't appear to be pre-made. Maybe only the sweets are infused with magic, but, that wouldn't make a lot of sense. Why only have cool candy when you can have magic…everything?

Mattie leads Emma over to a table where Bay, Davey, Dylan, and Kim are already sitting.

"So Emma, are you an Elementalist or a Necromancer?" Dylan asks.

Good thing she already has an answer to this, "I'm a Elementalist."

Kim lets out a sigh, Dylan however, is excited,

"Hey, that's cool, me too!" he then looks over at Kim, "Sorry Kim, looks like you're still the only Nec here."

"It's fine." she replies quietly.

"Well, I'm sure there're other Necromancers at camp." Emma offers.

Dylan shakes his head, "She's the only one at camp. Just turned out like that somehow."

Kim gives a cold laugh, "They're probably all off, up to no good. What with our dark magic and all. You won't believe how many people Necromancers kill in a year."

Nobody replies to that. Soon though, Michael arrives at the table,

"Hey guys…and…you…new girl…I forgot your name…great, now I feel stupid…"

Michael continues to stand as he tries to recall Emma's name.

"Her name's Emma you retard." Davey spits impatiently.

"That is an offensive term. You have no right to belittle the mentally disabled." Michael retorts in a hostile tone, slowly sitting down at the table.

"I'm not "belittling" the mentally disabled. I'm just pointing out how stupid you are." Davey points out.

"Hey you guys, no fighting!" Bay shouts, his boyish voice increasing in volume considerably.

The two boys go quiet, still throwing each other nasty glances. Bay rolls his eyes and turns to Mattie and Kim,

"They're worse than you girls."

"Are you implying something Bay?" Mattie asks, crossing her arms but still smiling.

"Oh, are you accusing me of being sexist?" Bay playfully snaps his fingers with what can only be described as sass.

They both laugh, leaving the rest of the table a bit befuddled.

Suddenly, a little girl in a Hogwarts uniform runs into the mess hall, out of breath,

"Hey y'all! The Demigods are here!" she announces, clutching the doorway to stop herself.

The entire mess hall climb out of their seats and rush outside. As Emma follows her new friends, she remembers that the brochure mentioning that the campus had been recently fit to accommodate Demigods. Emma, while having some general knowledge on the subject of Greek and Roman gods, didn't exactly have a list of all of the existing Demigods memorized, and are these the famous Demigods or lesser known ones? She figured that this camp would just have Wizards and Magicians, who're appear to be very similar in concept, but Demigods are something else entirely. But at least she knows something about them, with Magicians and Wizards, it's completely a guessing follows the other campers to the campus entrance. A pool of bright light has appeared next to the entrance in the form of a gate. Two girls are already standing by the portal of bright light, both of them soaking wet. Emma watches as a single boy steps confidently out of the pool of bright light.

"Oliver!" Mattie shouts out, running and jumping at the boy to pull him into a hug.

Emma scans her memory, but can't recall ever having heard of a Demigod named Oliver. She isn't even sure if Oliver is a Greek/Roman name.

"Hi everyone! It's good to see everyone again!" he greets, waving to the campers, his eyes wide like a child's.

The campers are mostly paying attention to the two girls, who're presumably also Demigods, or rather, Demigoddesses. Mattie introduces Oliver to Emma, who's first question is,

"Who's kid are you?"

Oliver chuckles, his voice only slightly deeper than the other boys, "I'm a son of Apollo."

"And, what can you do?"

"Hmm…well, I have an extended lifetime, and I am naturally gifted in all forms of art."

One of the Demigod girls with bright blue eyes and curly blond hair laughs,

"What he's trying to say is that he can't do jack."

Oliver completely ignores this comment and pays attention to Emma as she asks her next question,

"So, if you're into the arts, would that also count theatre?"

"Why would it not?" Oliver asks, a bit confused.

Emma smiles. She has a good feeling that they'll get along just fine.

The group returns to the cafeteria for desserts, and so that the Demigods could eat. Emma and Oliver talk about their favorite musicals while the others go to the vending machines to fetch desserts. They come back with more boxes of those magical jelly beans, and tiny little pies shaped like pumpkins.

"Have you ever tried a Pumpkin Pastie?" Bay asks, offering one to her.

"A what?"

"It's basically pumpkin pie." he explains.

Emma unwraps the small, clear plastic bag protecting the pastry and takes a bite. It really is just like pumpkin pie. She could see how it fits with the Magician/Wizard theme.

"Hey, have you ever noticed they spell flavor wrong on the packaging? It should be Bertie Bott's Every F-L-A-V-O-R Beans, the u is completely unnecessary." Dylan points out, holding up a box of the magical jelly beans.

So that's what they're called, and that's how she got a bean that tasted just like baked beans. The title is pretty self-explanatory.

"No, it is suppose to be Bertie Bott's Every F-L-A-V-O-_U_-R Beans. It's British spelling." Mattie corrects him.

Do Demigods have a school like how the Wizards have Hogwarts? And why are American kids attending a British school anyway?

"Well…the British are wrong." Dylan stutters back, but can still feel he's been beaten.

Mattie smiles, satisfied with her victory in the argument.

The group finish their food and head out to the quad. Out in the quad, a large group of campers have formed around the odd centerpiece. Two campers are in the centerpiece, one on either side of the basketball court markings, while the rest of the campers are standing around the court watching them.

"Hey, they're about to start the first match!" Mattie points over to the court.

They get there in time to see a filmy sky blue bubble momentarily flash around them, and then disappeared.

"What was that?" Emma asks, not sure if she just hallucinated the sudden light.

Bay looks at her, confused, "The protection shields, duh."

"You sure ask a lot of obvious questions." Dylan comments inquisitively, his hands in his pockets.

Uh oh…

"Well, my parents are Muggles…so…I don't really know…a lot about this stuff." she claims shakily.

"So are mine…" Dylan replies, still clearly suspicious.

An invisible voice tells the two campers to prepare themselves. One of the campers Emma recognizes as the blue-eyed, blond Demigoddess from earlier. The other camper is a taller, thinner version of the Demigod, although she's brandishing the same kind of stick that Mattie had earlier, but she doesn't have a Hogwarts uniform. Are those things wands? It would make sense. The Demigoddess simply puts her fists up boldly. Apparently Demigods don't need a wand to project their own magic.

The voice tells them to begin. The taller blond points her wand and vines root up from the ground and shoot toward the Demigoddess. She responds by lifting her arms and a wall of water flies up from the ground, shielding her from the roots.

Emma is astounded at the magical spectacle that these girls are putting on. What else could magical beings do?

The other students watch in silence and anticipation. Emma scotches over to Dylan, who has his eyes trained on the battle,

"Hey, who're those girls?"

He snaps out of his heightened concentration, "Oh, the shorter one is Leah, she's a daughter of Poseidon, and the taller one is Ivy, she's an Elementalist. Ivy and I go to the same school, not that I really know her…"

She attacks with vines and her name's Ivy, that can't be a coincidence.

Leah is now pelting icicles the size of cars at Ivy with her bare hands, who's using a collision of tangled greenery to protect herself. Ivy lets her shield down as Leah hurls her last chunk of ice when Ivy uses a single flexible stalk to fling the small glacier away from her, right towards the other campers. Emma gets down to duck as she sees the pieces of ice come crashing in her direction.

"What are you doing?" Michael asks, perfectly unfazed by the ice.

"It's coming right at us!" she cries.

Michael shakes his head, "No, it isn't."

Emma looks up and watches as the remaining pieces of ice fall toward them, and the ice is dissolved by the barely visible blue barrier.

"Oh…I knew that." Emma awkwardly stammers.

The battle has now escalated, Leah now several feet above the ground, elevated by a geyser of water. The ground around Ivy has now become disheveled from all of the plants she's summoned from it. Leah shoots a wave of water from her geyser and it smacks directly into Ivy. Now soaking wet, she gets up, and in a last ditch effort, summons what appears to be a large pea pod from her hand and hurls it straight into Leah's geyser. Ivy vines sprout from within the geyser and Leah is devoured by them.

"And that's…why they call me Ivy." Ivy pants, clearly tired.

Leah does not emerge from the entanglement of vines and Ivy is declared the victor, but Leah is not released. It's clear that she's struggling, from all of the movement coming from the now dormant plant.

"Ivy, let me out of here!" could be heard from within the nest.

Ivy proudly stands over the cocoon with a cheerful, sweet smile, "No, I need to enjoy this moment. Just give me a minute."

Leah is soon released, gasping for air, and she's clearly upset,

"I could've died in there, you malicious bi-"

"Hey, language! The battle's over, now shake hands, as is custom." Bay tells the two girls.

Ivy, still holding her sweet smile, extends her hand. Leah, after a moment of consideration, reluctantly shakes hands with her, and the two strut off of the court.

Emma watches as the blue force field flashes once, and all of the damage done to the court is instantly gone. The voice, which Emma has cleverly decided to call the Announcer, announces that the Dueling Court is now closed for the day. In a sigh of disappointment, the campers begin to disperse.

Emma looks up and sees that the sun has almost set in the sky. Somehow she's now able to look directly into the sun and not be fazed by it at all. Maybe it's another magic thing. Another thing about the sky is that the sky under the campus just looks better. Not that the sky in general isn't really nice, especially during sunset, it just seems that the sky under the campus is somehow, better. There's just no other way to describe it.

At dinner, Dylan discreetly asks Emma if he could talk to her alone after dinner. She agrees and after they clear their dinner plates and have some more Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, during which Michael got a vomit flavored bean,

"I always have the worse luck with these things! Today alone I've gotten broccoli, grass, durian, and poop! I don't even know what durian is!"

Afterwards, Dylan walks with Emma separately from everyone else to the dorms. The sun has now completely set and the lights around the quad have turned on, giving it a moonlit quality.

Dylan immediately cuts to the chase, "I know you're a Muggle."

Author's Note: Well, what do you think so far? This is a longer chapter than I'm used to, but I wanted to encompass one day into one chapter, if that makes any sense. I'd love to hear feedback, please be as soul-crushing as you'd like.


	2. Chapter 2

To Mattie: I wasn't sure if you're still interested in being a Beta Reader, so contact me if you are.

Chapter 2

"Huh?"

"How did you do it? A potion, a spell, obviously you had help from someone with actual magic. Your sibling? If it's a friend than that friend of yours has broken some serious rules."

How'd he find out so quickly? Is it that obvious? Was it because she asked too many questions? But she had to be a Magician, why else would she get a brochure and a scholarship asking her to attend this camp?

"I'm, I'm not really sure what's going on here. But whatever it is, it's totally awesome!" she admits. "I mean, who knew that there are Wizards, and, and Magicians, and Demigods too! I mean, who wouldn't want to be a part of that? So, I kinda just went along with it, ya know."

Dylan shoves his hands in his pockets and looks down at the ground. He shuffles his right foot a bit before responding,

"Well, alright. I believe you."

Emma lets out a large sigh, "Great…" then she stops in the middle of her sigh, awkwardly hunched over, "Wait, your going to turn me in, aren't you?"

Dylan tilts his head back, "What? Heck no! I mean, I totally understand where you're coming from. My parents are Muggles, so I had no idea I was a Magician until I got the letter."

"What letter?"

"Oh, you don't know. Don't worry, I'll explain it all to you. You see, if you're a Magician or a Wizard, you get a letter the summer before sixth grade assigning you to your local school. It pretty much determines whether or not you're a Wizard or Magician."

Emma pauses, she never got a letter like that,

"Well, maybe they made a mistake. Maybe my letter got lost in the mail."

Dylan shakes his head, "No, believe me, that's impossible. Sending a letter to the wrong person is impossible. But sending a summer camp scholarship to one, it's never happened before, but I can see that happening."

So that's it then. Emma was almost certain that she was a Magician, and now she's just a mistake, a miscalculation. She thought she was special, but turns out she's just like everyone else, as usual. She starts to feel her eyes line with tears, but she blinks them back, hoping the lack of light would mask it.

"Hey, I have an idea." Dylan tells her.

Emma fully swallows her tears, "Yeah?"

"There's an Elementalist stone that the upperclassmen create in class to enhance their powers. Anyone can use it, that's why it's so hard to make, and the school only allows it's use for special projects. But I know how to make it."

"Well, great. How do you make it?"

"It's composed of pure magic, but the only problem is that it takes at least two Elementalists to create the stone. We could make it with two, but it'd still be pretty weak."

"But you're certain I could use it?"

Dylan nods.

They reach the dorm entrance, Dylan promises that they'll talk more tomorrow morning, and they split up to their dorms.

Emma opens the door to her dorm to find Mattie already there. She's sitting on her bed reading a book. Emma sits down on her own bed, not feeling comfortable enough to make conversation. Luckily she doesn't need to, "Hey, do you watch Doctor Who?" she asks.

"Umm, no."

Mattie frowns, disappointed, "What about Supernatural?"

She shakes her head.

"Well then, what are you into?"

What's appropriate for Magicians to like? So far Emma hasn't seen a TV or computer anywhere on campus, and nobody's mentioned a recreation room where such things might be. But she knows what Doctor Who and Supernatural are, Muggle science fiction shows. Are all Wizards and Magicians into Muggle TV shows, or is Mattie the exception to the rule? Oh well, it's probably better to go with the truth anyway,

"Well, if we're talking about TV, I like Pretty Little Liars and Big Time Rush."

"Hmm, ok…"

"Do you have those shows in the UK?" Emma asks.

"Of course we do, I've just never watched them…"

We spend the rest of the night in silence. Of course, just my luck to have a roommate of which I have nothing in common with, Emma thinks to herself.

Soon enough, Emma changes out of her clothes and goes to sleep. Mattie stays up to read a bit more as Emma doses off.

Fog. I'm surrounded by fog. I can't see anything. What's going on? I start to walk through the fog, but it feels like I'm walking in water, I can hardly move my legs. It's like I'm moving in slow motion. Someone grabs me and pulls me to the ground. I reach with my arms and try to pull myself back up, but I'm forced down again. The invisible hand then starts to pull me back. I try to crawl away, or at least break free, but then more invisible hands grab a hold of me. I turn around, and see that the hands are the fog itself, as the fog encompasses me and I'm completely blinded by it.

She blinks open her eyes to find herself back in her room. Tangled in her sheets, she pushes herself up. Mattie's bed is empty, already neatly made. Following her example, she makes her own bed as well, although she doesn't usually.

As she gets ready for her first day of camp, she starts to wonder how Dylan is going to convince another Elementalist to create the stone. She can't wait to use the stone, she'll be just like all of the other Magicians and Wizards.

When she walks into the mess hall, most of the other students are already there. She quickly grabs her breakfast of milk and cereal with pumpkin juice, another Wizard/Magician themed food. She searches the benches for Dylan, and finds him with the blond Elementalist from the duel yesterday, Ivy.

"Hey Emma. Dylan's been telling me all about your predicament, and, I'll gladly help you two." Ivy tells Emma as she sits down next to Dylan.

He told her?! Emma couldn't believe that he'd betray her so quickly. Usually it takes at least a day before her friends blurt out her latest secret.

"Really…" Emma trails off, cautious.

"Of course, if you'd do something for me in return." she reveals to them, still maintaining her sweet tone of voice.

Of course there's a catch. Most of Emma's friends are just like this, willing to help, as long as there's something in it for them. Dylan however, seems to be completely up for the task,

"What do ya need?"

She flips her long blond hair and gives an innocent smile before continuing,

"Well, you know the WWW store they have in the town a couple miles from here?"

Dylan nods, and so does Emma, even though she has no idea what she's talking about.

"Well, could you possibly get me some Cupid Crystals from there?"

Cupid Crystals? Sounds like a street name for some drug. Maybe that's what Cupid Crystals are, and the WWW store is code for a drug dealer in town. Hopefully Dylan knows what he's doing.

"Sure, we can get them today after camp." Dylan agrees without Emma's input.

Ivy gives a wide grin, revealing perfect teeth, "Great! Thanks guys!"

Suddenly, the mess hall grew quiet as a group of adults walk in. One of those adults is Professor Erin, the rest of the adults Emma had never seen before. She never noticed the actual absence of adults on campus until now. Did these adults just arrive or have they been here all along and she just never noticed them?

One adult, an older man steps forward. Nothing appears out of ordinary with these adults, apart from the weird cloaks and oversized sweatshirts adorned with bright colors and strange patterns. Before, Professor Erin had been wearing normal clothes, but now she's wearing a bright blue cloak with yellow stars and moons.

The older man himself wears a simple black cloak, so at least sunglasses aren't required to have to look at him,

"Campers! Welcome to Glimmerstorm Camp for the Dramatically Different! I'm the camp's director, Professor David, and before we can get you all started on your first day of camp, there're some ground rules we have to go over."

Another professor steps forward, another man much younger than the first. He's dressed entirely in normal-ish clothes, black skinny jeans and a matching leather jacket, with the exception of his large black pointy hat,

"First of all, we'd like to welcome back our Demigods, coming back for their second year at our camp."

Oliver, Leah, and the other Demigoddess give small waves as the rest of the campers give a hand to them.

"And secondly, we had a problem last year with campers leaving campus without permission."

Of course the camp isn't open campus. She should have realized sooner, what with the younger kids being around. Her group of friends look like some of the oldest kids at camp, now that she's gotten a chance to really look around.

"No student may leave without a permit from a teacher, or during a field trip with one of your classes."

Great, how are we suppose to get the drugs for Ivy? Not that she was looking forward to it in the first place, but now it seems like it's going to be even more of a hassle. Why would magical beings need drugs anyway, since they already have all of this cool stuff? Maybe it's enchanted drugs, but that sounds ridiculous.

The teachers go over the various rules of the camp, like curfew time, what kind of spells aren't allowed, and that prank products of any kind are not allowed.

"Hey." Dylan pokes at Emma.

She turns from the teachers to him, "What?"

"Don't worry about sneaking past the teachers. I got a plan." he tells her.

That's a relief, while Dylan doesn't seem like the competent type, what with his lazy slouch and messy hair, it's not like she could do any better.

Emma looks over her shoulder and notices Bay, Davey, Michael, and Mattie are whispering at their own table. They've obviously heard this speech before. They've finally changed out of their uniforms and are now wearing normal clothes. Good, no more oversized sweatshirts.

She's decided to start calling their group the Hogwarts Quartet, after the school they're all from, and the fact that they're always hanging out together.

Soon enough, the teachers hand out schedules, telling them which class is where, and send the students off to their first class. Emma's schedule has her name down as Semaj. Was it that her scholarship was sent to the wrong house? Dylan mentioned it as a possibility. To be honest, she's still kinda hoping that she actually has magical powers, but no luck. But even then, who wouldn't want to be a part of it all?

She's listed in the A age group, whatever that means. Her first class is listed as Flying. Could Wizards/Magicians fly? And how could she pull off being able to fly?

"Are we in the same age group?" Dylan asks, taking a peek at her schedule. "Yep. That's good. But of course we have Flying first. I hate that class, and the older kids always have that class first."

"What do I do? I can't fly! How do you guys fly anyway? Don't tell me I have to sprout wings or something…"

Dylan bites his lips and squints, trying to not laugh, "No, we use broomsticks, like how the Witches in those Halloween movies do. Just pretend you're really bad at flying, that's what I do."

She nods slowly. If he can get away with it, she figures she probably could too.

Flying takes place on the quad, so they don't have to walk very far. She notices that The Dueling Court has been replaced by a long rack of identical wooden broomsticks. Professor Erin and another woman in an oversized sweatshirt, presumably Professor Melinda stand patiently. Great, just when Emma thought she was done with those stupid elongated sweatshirts. They must have a name for those things, she should ask Dylan.

"Alright. As many of you know, my name is Professor Erin. Grab a broom so that we can begin." she points to the rack.

Before Emma can take a step towards the broom rack, brooms begin flying towards her. She shields her face as the brooms fly into the hands of the campers. When she opens her eyes, all of the brooms have been taken except for one. Professor Erin looks at Emma sternly, waiting for her to summon her broom. She begins to clench up, biting her lip. What is she suppose to do? She can't make her broom come flying towards her. She stares at her broom, begging it to come to her, silently whispering for it to come to her. Suddenly the broom zips at her, and she clumsily catches it as it slams into her chest.

"Good, now mount your brooms and we'll get started." Professor Melinda commands.

With her shaky hands, Emma swings herself onto the broomstick. The broom feels heavy, she can barely keep it up, how is this thing suppose to fly?

One by one, the campers take off, gliding around the campus. Emma looks down at her own broom, almost expecting it to take off. Professor Erin walks over to her,

"C'mon, lets get going."

She waves her wand, and Emma's broom slowly lifts from the ground. Emma's grip tightens on the broom as it makes it's full ascent into the sky. The broom begins to putter around at a slow, but consistent pace. Emma soon becomes comfortable with this speed and begins to steer the broom herself.

"Are you comfortable up there? Do you still feel like you need my help?" Professor Erin asks.

She knows that she can't use this assistance for the entire summer camp, but for now…

"You're ready."

Emma turns to see Dylan flying right next to her, "What?"

"Tell her you're ready to let go.""But I'll crash to the ground!"

"You won't. Trust me."

Is he insane? What is he going to do, be there to catch my body after I've died of shock?! Emma nervously ponders this before swallowing her fear,

"Yes Professor, I'm ready!" she calls out, her heart racing.

Professor Erin nods, "I'm going to let go of you in three…two…one…"

Emma squeezes her eyes shut and bites her lips as she glues her hands onto the broom handle with her nervous perspiration.

The broom makes a sudden drop and Emma's heart drops along with it before coming to a complete stop. Emma blinks a few times before she looks down and sees that she's still high up in the air. On the ground, she can see Professor Erin and Melinda give smiles of approval. Emma waves at them, "Thanks for the help!"

"That was so much fun!" Emma exclaims to Dylan as they exit the quad.

Dylan, too tired to respond, simply nods, before collapsing to the ground. Emma looks back at Dylan,

"Well, I'm not going to carry you to Potions class." Emma tells him.

He stretches out a desperate hand from the ground, "C'mon. I carried you for an entire hour using magic. The least you could do is physically carry me for a few minutes."

Emma sighs before grabbing his right arm and begins dragging him to Potions class.

The Potions laboratory is located on the second floor in the building opposite the mess hall . Emma has always imagined a potion laboratory to be a underground grotto made of cobblestone, but the Potions laboratory looks exactly like the science labs back at Emma's school. With sterile white walls, floors, counters, chairs, whiteboards, and lab equipment, the only thing in the room that isn't white is the colorful assortment of liquids, herbs, and miscellaneous objects in the various shelves and open cupboards. Professor David, the Potions Master, is brewing something at his personal table. The counters are fit for two people, and Dylan and Emma are able to score seats next to each other. As the final camper sits down, Professor David gets up from his personal table with a bottle of clear liquid in a jar,

"Students, do you know what this is?" he asks the campers.

A hand towards the front of the class shoots up, it's Kim, "That's Babbling Beverage. It causes the user to jabber on about nothing."

Professor David raises his eyebrow, "That's correct…but how could you have guessed? You can't identify a potion by just looking at it."

"I saw you brewing it earlier. Also, your potion's book is still turned to the recipe." she points to the book on his personal table.

"Egghead." Davey snickers.

Kim returns his comment with a sarcastic smile. Professor David turns around and sees Davey's smug expression and crossed arms, his feet on the table,

"You. I'm surprised that they let you come back after last year."

Professor David points to him before walking to the whiteboard, "Watch out for this kid."

Emma couldn't tell if Professor David is being serious or not. From what she'd seen of Davey so far, he seems like a bit of a jerk. But he never seems to have any malicious intent in his comments, he just says it like he's telling a joke. Maybe he's just arrogant than, Emma concluded.

"Alright children. For your first day of camp, you're going to try to create Babbling Beverage. But here's the catch, you won't be given the exact recipe. I'm going to hand everyone a list of possible ingredients and their effects when used by themselves and with each other. With this list, create the potion. All of the ingredients are on the shelf labeled "Group A". I'll give you twenty minutes."

Emma grabs the ingredient list before Dylan can and reads to herself. Mandrake root, wormwood essence, armadillo bile…what is all this stuff?

Dylan peeks over and snatches the list and reads it himself,

"Don't worry. I know what this stuff is…kind of."

Emma rolls her eyes, "I'd hope so. It's not like I'd know."

As Dylan walks over to the supply shelf, Emma ponders the Cupid Crystals Ivy wants. Why are they called Cupid Crystals? She imagines them looking like pink colored rock candy, but what do they do exactly? If Dylan thinks they're a fair trade for Ivy's assistance in creating the elemental stone, then they must be of some value. The idea that it's a drug seems less likely now that she thinks about it.

"Ok, I've got everything. The only thing is, is that I don't really know the recipe for Babbling Beverage." he confesses, dumping the ingredients on the table.

"Well, we're not suppose to know. We're suppose to guess, right?"

Dylan nods, "Based on the properties of the ingredients. I know for a fact that some of this stuff could blow this place sky high if mixed together."

Emma's palms start to sweat, what if we mess up? She doesn't like the idea of constantly relying on Dylan as a guide to the Wizarding World. What if he seriously messes up? What if she seriously messes up?

"Well, we'll definitely need some standard potioning water, so I'll go and fill up our cauldron." Dylan tells her, picking up the heavy brass bowl.

Emma scans through the ingredients. It says here that one of the ingredients, flabbergasted leeches, are commonly used for potions that cause negative effects. Constantly babbling sounds pretty negative. She finds the flabbergasted leeches in a small bottle and sets them aside. From there, she starts to go through the list and look for anything that might be a candidate for a potion ingredient. She picks through the colorful bottles and assortment of dried plants until she has a nice collection of possible ingredients by the time Dylan comes back,

"Woah, how'd you find all of the correct ingredients?"

Emma shrugs, "Umm…deductive reasoning? I don't know, it's just a guess."

"Well, it's all we have. Let's give it a try."

One by one, they put their possible ingredients into the cauldron. Dylan summons a wooden wand which he uses to stir the potion,

"Hey, why do only Wizards have to carry their wands around?" Emma asks, watching him stir the teal blue potion by just waving his wand around.

"Magicians only need their wands when doing certain things like, stirring a potion. If I used a regular spoon, it'd be sucked in by the potion, mistaking it for an ingredient. Magicians have to have their own wand too, but they have to summon it. That's the only really big difference between Wizards and Magicians. With their wands, Wizards' magic isn't as pure and isn't as powerful, but they have a larger variety of ways to use their magic, while Magicians have more potent magic, but they're restricted to either magic based around the elements like me, or to summoning dead people like Kim."

Emma's eyes fly back to the potion, "Um…Dylan…the potion?"

The potion, now a dark green, is overflowing out of the cauldron and onto the floor.

"Ah crap!" Dylan's wand vanished as he jumped back away from the mess.

Dylan pulls his hand up commandingly and roots instantly shoot up from the floor and absorb the green liquid.

"Phew, that was close."

The roots retract to reveal a large hole in the floor,

"Umm, Dylan…we're on the second floor…" Emma reminds him.

Dylan and Emma look down the hole. A group of younger children, many with wands, look up back at them. Professor David walks over and peers down the hole,

"Hey kids! Is anyone hurt down there?"

"No!" came a collective response.

"Good, I'll see you kids this afternoon. Mattie, could you clean this up for me?" Professor asks before strolling back to his personal table.

Mattie nods and waves her wand, "Sure! _Raparo_!"

The hole instantly closes up, the pieces returning to their respective places, and it now appears as if it never happened.

"See? There's no way I could've repaired that hole and make it look brand new like that!" Dylan explains.

Emma nods, "That's cool. But why are their two different ways to teach magic? Why can't their only be one?"

Dylan shrugs, "I don't know. Wizarding is mainly taught in Europe and Magicianizm in America, but America still usually uses the term Wizarding World. Magicianizm World…not as catchy."

Ten minutes later, Professor David is going around sampling everyone's potion. Emma's surprised how brave Professor David is, trying a possibly dangerous concoction.

"Good guess Bay and Mattie, but wormwood is usually only used for healing potions." he tells the small boy.

Mattie pouts in disappointment while Bay just continues to smile.

Professor David walks over to Davey's potion. Davey, smiling maliciously, crosses his arms and taps his foot expectantly. Professor David hesitates before trying Davey's potion. Suddenly, the professor started shaking and coughing. He falls to the floor violently as his skin starts to bubble, he begins to shrink, his hair changing from a brown to a sandy blond, his arms becoming thin and boney, and his skin smoothes out and becomes pale. By the time his transformation is finished, his clothes are three times too small, and is nearly buried under them. When he rises, he stands just as Davey's height. In fact, he now looks exactly like Davey,

"Polyjuice Potion! Davey, this is unacceptable!" the professor, as Davey, shouts at his doppelganger in Davey's pre-pubescent voice.

Davey laughs so hard he falls over. Professor David marches over to his personal table, his clothes dragging behind him in a train. He finds a small bottle before downing some of it's contents and sticking the rest in his pocket. He then begins to grow back into his clothes, and before Emma knew it, the professor was standing back as his normal self,

"Well, now that that's over, you young man, are going to be punished at the end of class today. You're lucky I have a large supply of Reversal Potion I use for tasting these potions."

Professor David suddenly snaps back into his chipper self and begins going around trying the student's potions. So that's how he doesn't feel the effects of the potions, Emma realizes. Professor David stops at Emma and Dylan's table. He tastes their potion and suddenly,

"I say hey baby! I say how ya doing baby?" he says in an Elvis-like voice.

Emma and Dylan turn and look at each other. They must have done something really, really wrong.

The professor snaps from a lax posture to a more feminine one, his left hand on his hip, "I'm no baby!" he says in a mockingly high voice, "I'm Elmo! And this is Elmo's World!"

Emma bites her lip and smiles, this is kind of funny…

"Ok baby! I can take a hint!" he says, returning to the Elvis voice, but the Elmo voice instantly comes back, "We've got a saying here in Elmo's World! La la, la la. La la, la la…here's my gun!" he shouts, pulling out an imaginary gun.

Kim, shoving past the other campers, swipes the Reversal Potion from his pocket, climbs onto the table and forces the professor to drink the last of its contents. The professor spins a little before catching himself on a nearby table.

"Aw, seriously Kim? He was fine, the potion would've worn off anyway." Ivy protests, her hands on her hips. "We're not all here to study."

Kim shrugs, avoiding eye contact with her. The professor, now somewhat balanced, wanders back to his personal table, "Thank you Kim. Emma, Dylan, good job! A little too good, too many flabbergasted leeches."

Emma and Dylan get a bunch of high fives from the campers, especially Davey,

"Man, you guys had David saying all kinds of crazy stuff! La la, la la. La la, la la, here's my gun!" he imitates, doing the imaginary gun motion.

Professor David turns to Davey, "That reminds me, I haven't dealt your punishment yet!"

The professor picks out a rather large bottle from his table full of yellow oily liquid and slams it down in front of Davey,

"This is Truth Serum. Like the name suggests, it forces you to tell the truth, no matter what the question. If you ever pull a stunt like he did today, you're going to get the same punishment." the professor turns to Davey, "Alright, you know what to do."

Davey swallows, his cocky smile gone, he uncorks the bottle and waterfalls some Truth Serum into his mouth. The minute he swallows it, his eyes become blank.

"Alright kids, ask him anything you want." he tells them, picking up the bottle and returning it to his table.

"Do you have a crush on anyone?" is the first question, from Ivy.

"Leah's kind of cute."

There's ohhs from nearly all of the campers, and Emma spots Leah shuffling to the back of the classroom.

"Are you a Muggle born?" another camper asks.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I'm adopted."

Professor David then nods, "Alright then. You guys have lunch next, off you go."

Davey is supported by Kim and Dylan as the group goes to the mess hall for lunch. They're serving chicken sandwiches on sourdough bread with pumpkin juice and pudding cups. The sandwiches are shaped like chickens, the pumpkin juice in clear goblets you'd see at Halloween stores, and the pudding cups come in ghost shapes. It's like a school's Halloween lunch party, except it's June.

"Hey, are you ready to go to the WWW after school?" Dylan asks.

Emma nods, "What is WWW anyway? And what are Cupid Crystals?"

Dylan looks surprised at first, and then suddenly snaps out of it, "Oh yeah, I forgot!" he clasps his hands over is mouth, and looks around the crowded mess hall before continuing, "The WWW is short for Weasleys Wizard Wheezes. It's a prank shop basically. Cupid Crystals is one of their many love potions. They're these little pink crystals that dissolve in water."

Emma gives a sigh of relief, "Oh that's great. I thought they were drugs or something."

"Nah. With all the stuff in the Wizarding World, who needs drugs?"

The Spells class is the last class of the day. Emma, in anticipation of her trip to the WWW store after school, is not as focused for this class. The classroom is pretty standard. Just a barebones room with a whiteboard and a couple of tables. Professor Sean, the Spells teacher, is separating the students into three groups, Wizards, Magicians, and Demigods. Emma, claiming to be an Elementalist, is sorted with the Magicians, of which there are only four of,

"Hey Dylan. Why are we calling the professors by their first names?" she asks.

Dylan shrugs, "I don't know. It's one of the many quirks of going to this camp, I guess. I've never encountered it anywhere else."

Professor Sean sorts the last group, the Demigods, Leah, Ciera, and Oliver. Dylan sighs, "You know, I've always wanted to be a Demigod. I mean, in my opinion, they're the best of the three groups. They have the power of a Magician, with the flexibility of a Wizard. And they have extended life expectancy. I could be a son of Hades, or a child of Poseidon, like Leah and Ciera."

In the three individual groups, Professor Sean gives different material to each group. For the Magicians, he asks the Elementalists to create a totem representing the element they are best at, and Kim, the sole Necromancer, to summon an undead minion of her choice.

"What element do you want?" Dylan asks Emma.

"Huh?"

"Well, you have to present a totem to Professor Sean, and you don't have the elemental stone yet, so, what do you want?"

Emma ponders this. If she were an Elementalist, what element would she be best at? How could she even know?

"Just give me earth. It'll be the easiest to hold."

Dylan nods and starts waving his hands around in circular motions until a small pebble forms. That pebble soon collects with other forming pebbles and small leaves begin to grow on the stones. Before she knows it, Dylan's holding a decent sized rock with vines and fresh bright green leaves growing on it with a pretty sky blue flower on top. Emma carefully takes the totem, as if it was a fragile piece of china. She holds it from the bottom, and examines it. It looks like something picked from a fancy furniture accessory shop. It could be put in a bowl of water and pass for a Japanese fountain.

"…Thank you." Emma smiles at Dylan, as she continues to admire the totem.

"No problem." he shrugs, already forming his own totem.

"Umm, after this is over, can I keep this?"

"Sure. It's pure magic, so that flower will never wither."

"Cool…"

Professor Sean comes around to the Elementalists to examine their totems. Dylan's own totem is a glass orb encasing a burning red flame and Ivy's totem, also an earth totem, is a flat surface of intertwining vines with a pristine white lily in the center. Kim has decided to summon an undead puppy made completely of bones and a singular eyeball. Professor Sean looks around at everyone's totems and Kim's morbid puppy, "Very interesting choices."

The Demigods, also asked to present totems, have a small ice statue of a mermaid from Leah, a single drop of water from Ciera, and a pair of shiny black tap shoes from Oliver.

"A pair of tap shoes? Lame." Davey comments.

Professor Sean gives Davey a stern look before continuing.

The Wizards are asked to show their Patronus, which Dylan explains is a spiritual guardian that only Wizards can summon. Davey's is a snake, Mattie's is a eagle, Bay's is a tiger, and Michael's is a porcupine. Two other Wizards are also in the group also summoning their Patronuses. After examining all of these Patronuses, Professor Sean calls the entire class together,

"I've asked all of you to create something that represents you in one way or another. It's important to remember these icons during these next few weeks. I'm sure none of the other teachers have mentioned this yet, they don't usually talk about it since normally only the oldest students participate in it."

Some of the campers murmur among each other. Emma looks to Dylan, but he just looks back to Professor Sean,

"Every year at the end of camp, we host a Dueling Tournament among the eldest and most powerful campers. You've all seen the Dueling Court outside, well, that's where we'll be holding it. Everyone will be able to watch, but only certain campers will be able to compete."

The campers looks amongst each other, and the air in the room suddenly becomes tense.

"I'll be watching each and every one of you over these next few weeks for candidates. So just try your best. Now, what we'll be doing for the rest of this class is practicing our aiming abilities."

Professor Sean waves his hand and the whiteboard disappears, replaced by practice dartboards. More appear on the other walls. The campers immediately race to a dartboard to begin practicing. Even Davey isn't as much of his usual cynical jokester self, although he's still cracking a crude comment here and there.

Emma finds a dartboard next to Dylan as he passes her rocks and pieces of ice to throw around,

"Hey, do you think I'll be able to compete in the Tournament?" she asks.

Dylan, unusually quiet, shakes his head, "They check for contraband that would enhance your performance. That includes the elemental stone, so no. I'm sorry."

Emma nods her head, and bites her lip, "Are you gonna compete?"

"Yeah. It's pretty much expected from the older kids, that's us."

"Well, then shouldn't I?"

"But you can't!" he shouts at her a little too loudly.

Kim and some of the other campers stop and turn around to look at them. Dylan shrinks into his usual bad posture and returns to hurling fireballs at the target and everyone else does too. Emma feels a heavy feeling in her heart. Her first day and she's already being told what she can't do.


End file.
